It was a season finale to forget for Lewis Hamilton, who has already expressed his joy of not having to drive the W13 again after Tuesday’s post-season test.
The 37-year-old endured a race full of issues, which ended in a reliability-based retirement with just a few laps remaining.
With Fernando Alonso also retiring from the race, it meant that Hamilton, Alonso and Sebastian Vettel were unable to replicate their historic donut shot on the start/finish straight after the race.
Hamilton actually made a very good start to the race and overtook Carlos Sainz into Turn One on the opening lap, moving him up to fourth.
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He then found himself right on the gearbox of Charles Leclerc on the run down to Turn Six, where he left the door open to Sainz to claim P4 back.
Hamilton opted to cut across Turn Seven rather than make the corner, which saw the seven-time World Champion bounce heavily over a huge sausage kerb.
The Stevenage-born driver re-joined the circuit ahead of Sainz but was soon told by his side to give the Spaniard the place back.
Hamilton immediately got back ahead of Sainz after giving the place back; however, the pace of the 103-time GP winner suddenly slowed.
Sainz easily got back ahead of Hamilton, who was then also overtaken by George Russell, before complaining about his car on the team radio.
The Brit reported of a loss of power, but Mercedes ensured the driver that everything was okay and that actually he’d just drained his battery low.
He actually regained a lot of pace towards the end of the race but was forced to retire from fourth place following a technical issue.
It means that Hamilton ended the season sixth in the Drivers’ Championship, marking his worst-ever result in the standings.
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As well as this, with him failing to claim a victory, it means his run of having claimed a victory in every season he competed in came to an end, something that may disappoint the British driver.
His attention will seemingly turn immediately to 2023, where he’ll be hoping to bounce back to the top of the timing sheets after a year of simply battling for a top five finish.
Russell also became just the third team-mate to beat Hamilton in the standings, with the other two being Jenson Button and Nico Rosberg.